The Malta Memorial at the entrance to Valletta is often overlooked, sandwiched between the car park and the bus terminus, despite the well-kept garden around it. But it was the centre of attention at a wreath-laying ceremony yesterday, organised by the Royal Air Forces Association Malta branch.

The memorial to officers and men of the air forces of the Commonwealth, built by the Imperial War Graves Commission in memory of the 2,300 airmen who gave their lives in World War II and have no known grave, had been unveiled by Queen Elizabeth in 1954.

Since last year, the Surrey police also started attending on their own initiative and funding their own trip after they learned that three of their former comrades were listed on the Malta Memorial.

Sgt Christian Duckett and Insp. Duncan Calder, from the Surrey police, and Bob Young, who has just retired from the police service of Northern Ireland, travelled to Malta in memory of flying officer Clive Nibbs Millward, who died aged 32, Wilfred Harold James Pickard, at 26, and wing commander Eric Norman Woods, who went missing during an air-sea rescue search in the Gulf of Drin at 33.

The pilots were shot down and had no known grave, Sgt Duckett said.

Last year, they asked the Malta section of the International Police Association whether the missing men from the Surrey Constabulary were listed on the memorial.

"We are humbled by the fact that they were prepared to go away from their so-to-speak protected professions back home as police officers to fight for the cause of freedom," the police officers said. "We are here to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Today, men are still willing to do so."

But they also make a holiday out of it and would not be too upset if the Icelandic volcano eruptions leave them stranded on the island for a while longer. "We would be distraught," they joked after the solemn ceremony was over.

Among the dignitaries present were the High Commissioners of Britain and Australia, ambassadors and honorary consuls.